Giants' possible first order of business?

Here we are, a month into the MLB offseason and movement is starting to slowly pick up in the hot stove arena and although things will slow down through the Thanksgiving weekend, you can bet things will heat back up early next week as the Winter Meetings are just a few weeks away.

As I've stated many times here, probably as recently as our last post below, this is one of my favorite times of the year on the MLB front by far because this is the time when teams get a blank slate (or as close to one as they can have) and have multiple avenues they can take to improve their respective rosters.

Today, since Will Smith was the first to depart from the club and open up a glaring hole at the end of games in the Giants' bullpen, I thought I'd delve a bit into what the Giants have coming back in 2020 while including some of the better options who are out there on the market, both trade and free agency.

Before we delve into the more exciting potential positional players the Giants may go after, or the possibility of them landing a upper-end rotational starter to replace Bumgarner, I wanted to first touch on some of the relief options who could make some sense to bring in this winter. The Giants pen was up and down in 2019 but all in all it performed well as a group and I have a feeling that without a ton of impact relief arms out there this year, that could be the first area the Giants attach in the coming weeks.

So far, the only prominent player from the Giants' 2019 team who surely won't be returning is closer Will Smith, who inked his 3-year deal with Atlanta earlier this month. We already talked a bit about that in our previous post so no need to harp on that any further, however, one topic to discuss now is who will slot into the ninth inning role for the Giants for the 2020 season? First off all they'll fully assess a few of the in-house options who've shown glimpses of ability to become the end of game stopper for this club. San Francisco does have some intriguing up-and-coming arms in their bullpen that will make strong cases for prominent roles in 2020.

Tyler Rogers (14 G, 0.63 ERA, 0.89 WHIP in September) should be penciled into a middle relief role. Right-handers Trevor Gott, Jamdel Gustave and Sam Coonrod will also have tentative spots reserved for based on their 2019 showings; at least as the roster stands now. With Smith gone, the lead left-hander will be the veteran of the group, Tony Watson, who's coming off a bit of a down year but is still one of the more reliable relievers in the game.

There are a handful of other guys who will head into camp hoping to make a roster push, from the likes of Shaun Anderson, Andrew Suarez and Wandy Peralta, but the one guy in house at this moment and the only one capable of possibly shouldering that 9th inning role is right-hander Reyes Moronta. The 26 year-old right hander has about as filthy of stuff as anyone on the Giants pitching staff and has the ideal arsenal of weapons you'd look for in a closer. He throws hard, has big time movement, seems to handle pressure very well and has no problem getting the strikeout when needed. The only slight area the youngster needs work on is cutting down his free passes by about 30%. He really reminds me a bit of a harder-throwing Sergio Romo. Not quite the frisbee-slider but the low 3/4 release and a nice biting bender in the upper-80's to go with a fastball that can rise and sits in the upper 90's. It's no surprised opponents hit under .200 against him in his career.

Now, would I just anoint Moronta closer this winter based on their lack of options coupled with his success the last couple of years? Ideally that would not be the case, even if they don't find another guy they'd feel more comfortable with in free agency or trade. That being said, as of November 23rd, Reyes Moronta looks like your closer if the season were to start on December 1st. Watson would probably be the set-up man with either Coonrod, Gott or Rogers also in the mix for 8th inning work.

So that's where they sit now, entering free agent season and there really isn't a sure-fire closing option out there that I'm sure Farhan would feel good about shelling out Will Smith-type money too in order to replace the lefty. Daniel Hudson is the top name on that list, but he'll have plenty of leverage because he knows it. Despite having a terrific run for Washington last summer, he's going to be 33 next season and I would not offer him a package that Smith got, but I would maybe give him two years at that AAV. However, I think perhaps the most intriguing, roll-the-dice option out there is former Rockie and Royal closer, Greg Holland. He'll be 34 and is coming off a couple of less than stellar seasons but he's had some injuries he's dealt with constant changing of roles while pitching in some live yards. After seeing Smith set the marker for relievers, maybe Holland on a 2-year/$10M deal with incentives to double the AAV if he takes the closer gig full time, wouldn't be such a terrible scenario.

Of course there are a whole other plethora of options out there that could be available via trade, but there are two that really give me optimism as far as possibly not costing an arm and a leg. In fact, in this bare relief marker, I'd be ecstatic if the Giants could somehow swindle one of the following closers from their respective clubs. Problem is, these are the type of guys who may require the likes of Yaz, Beede and/or Moronta in return. Two names who come to mind off the top of my head are Alex Colome and Ken Giles who are exactly the types the Giants could use; whether they're available or not is another story. Assuming they could be had in trade though, Colome is one of the most underrated stoppers in the game because he plays for the White Sox but is as about as steady as they come after just turning 30. Giles has had some past injuries but when the 29 year-old is on he's electric as they come and would give the Giants their most electrifying closer since Robb Nen.

If they want to go bargain basement and are looking to add a possible closer to tide them over for the 2020 season only, one possible bargain name to consider would be Ian Kennedy from Kansas City. He's reinvented himself as a late-inning reliever and has likely prolonged his career because of it. He'd fit more as a set-up man/second closer in a win-now situation with a team like the Yankees or Dodgers though. Ideally, the Giants can find someone who could anchor a late-inning relief spot for the next half-decade.

I'm sure the Farhan, Harris and Kapler will be scouring for more mid-relief options as well, but focusing on the late innings will be a priority. They'll also be pursuing at least one starting pitcher to help come in and eat up some of Bumgarner's lost innings, Johnny Cueto, who's still only a few games into his post TJS career, and Jeff Samardzija are the anchors of the staff at the moment. If the season started tomorrow they'd be forced to roll with Beede, Webb and likely Rodriguez or Suarez if they wanted to get a lefty in there.

Next post though, we'll start our evaluation of the returning roster spots and where they stand now, what they can do to improve realistically, and some players I think they should go after in order to better their offense. It may include cutting loose some long-tenured Giants and making some positional moves around the diamond but I don't wanna get into that tonight. It's just good to finally have some leadership atop the organization again and I'm cautiously optimistic this bunch will get a thing or two done this winter!

Which big first move do you think Farhan, Harris Co. make to kick off the Giants offseason? Pass on your thoughts in the comment section!